Regarding cutting and the bible

[ayin jade]

I never really noticed this before, but there is a biblical example of a cutter in the bible. It is interesting that a so called modern problem is at least 2000 yrs old. I dont know much about demons, so I really cant say if cutting is demonic or not today, but I do know that Jesus healed this man. He can heal cutters today.

1 And they came over to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gadarenes.

2 And when He had come out of the boat, immediately a man with unclean spirits met Him out of the tombs,

3 who had his dwelling among the tombs. And no one could bind him, no, not with chains

4 because he had often been bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him, and the fetters broken in pieces. Nor could anyone subdue him.

5 And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying and cutting himself with stones.

6 And when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshiped Him,

7 and cried with a loud voice, and said, What is to me and to You, Jesus, son of the Most High God? I adjure You by God not to torment me.

8 For He said to him, Come out of the man, unclean spirit!

9 And He asked him, What is your name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion, for we are many.

10 And he begged Him very much that He would not send them outside the country.

11 And a great herd of pigs was feeding near the mountains.

12 And all the demons begged Him, saying, Send us into the pigs, that we may enter into them.

13 And immediately Jesus allowed them. And the unclean spirits went out and entered into the pigs. And the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea (they were about two thousand), and were choked in the sea.

14 And the ones who fed the pigs fled and told it in the city and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that was done.

15 And they came to Jesus and saw him who had been demon-possessed, and had the legion, sitting and clothed and right-minded, the one who had the legion. And they were afraid.

16 And those who had seen told them how it happened to the one who had been demon-possessed, and about the pigs.

17 And they began to beg Him to leave their borders.

18 And when He had come into the boat, the former demoniac begged Him that he might be with Him.

19 However Jesus did not allow him, but said to him, Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and has had mercy on you.

20 And he departed and began to proclaim in Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all marvelled.

Mark 5: 1-20

[Guest Thomas I believe]

Hi Ayin, I myself have encountered people that cut themselves. I have even heard of a couple in worthy chat that do that. I have never understand why one want to hurt themselves. Even some of the native american tribes have had there women cut themselves in a gesture of greiving or mourning. I am not sure what that would be based on. To harm oneself to gain releif does'nt make any sense at all not to say the least that its dangerous. Is it away to get releif from frustration, stress, self-hatred, distress of the heart, hurt, sadness, lonliness. Is is demonicly controlled ? I would have to say that someone that cuts is being empowered by something evil, God would surely not want us to harm ourselves ! My sister used to cut and what released her from this was salvation through Jesus. Until she accepted Jesus into her heart, the distress and all i mentioned above plagued her daily. Jesus freed her from those things. With a true presence of God in us demonic entitys (satan) has no power over us. Temptation is eliminated through strength and contentment in God. Some of us have our bad days, setbacks, backslides. Outward signs of not having God in control of our lives can be many things from cutting to alcholism to drug abuse to sexual perversion etc.... The answer always is Salvation, closeness to God, obedience to God. We are protected from all of these spirits that would like to take us out. Gods promise is correct and true. Submit to me and I will guide you to Me ! We have to resist those thoughts as the devil is always looking for those bad days that we have..... Assurance in Gods promise is absolute and God can free us from anything and make us whole. We just have to trust and believe that He can.

In His Peace, Michael

[Khristeeanos]

I used to cut on myself with razor blades. I used to carve girls names into my arm.

I was severly depressed and wanted to die. I spent about 8 years like that. It was difficult to stop.

I didn't scar myself or do it excessively, but I did do it.

[alecia]

I guess its something that youd have to experience to really understand, since it isnt rational..

I didnt do much cutting, I did branding.. its a bit more of an intense experience.. seems to take emotional pain and realize it into physical pain.. kind of hard to explain it.

Though for a few its a compulsion, they do it no matter what.

[Work in Progress]

Wow, Jade, that is really interesting. Thanks for posting that. It always blows me away when I see a "modern" problem addressed in Scripture. There truly is "nothing new under the Sun".

[irishcowboy]

Hi,

this is a subject that is not easy to deal with..... i have known a couple personally and a few thru others.....

cutting from what i have seen, is a way of releasing inner pain, in a sense it is like having a tooth ache and having someone stomp on your toe to releave the pain of the tooth ( it works if they stomp hard enough ) but only for a short while.

one young lady i knew that was cutting had drawings she had done of dreams and vissions she was having at the time she was cutting, she was a "boarderline christian" at best, when she would try to do right and get closer to the Lord, the dreams would increase, and the cutting would increase..... i had an oportunity to see some of the pictures she was drawing of her dreams and vissions, and they were of demons, many different demons, some would be in more then one of the pictures..... this young lady was the only one that would really open up..... she finally got some help, and the dreams and cuttings stopped..... i thought she was doing good, until i found out she had rejected Christ, and was practicing witchcraft, which I tryed to reason with her that she was on the wrong road, and that she would be lost..... she said that it no longer mattered, cause now she was pain free and was happy....... i was one of the only few that she would open up to, and then after telling me this, she told me that she is cutting off all her Christian friends.......

another young lady i know, very close to me, use to, she has not for some time, but she also wont talk about it...... she is reaching out to the Lord, and wants more of Him..... she is seeking to grow stronger in the Lord....

with out knowing more details of a persons life, i would have to say from what i have seen is that cutting is very simular to the man in the tombs, maybe not demon possessed, but demon controled or harassed by them......

others that i have known, are either not Christians, or are boarderline..... problem is, if they are boarderline, that is their weakest point in their walk, that is the period that they are most likely to turn away....... and the time satan has the easiest time getting them, by lying to them...... make them think that if they continue to go towards the Lord, that this problem, this pain will continue and increase..... these folks do not have a strong prayer life, yet. they need support and help in learning how to pray, and how to rebuke the devil...... they have the power, but do not know how to use it.....

if you know a cutter, spend time fasting and praying for them, and if you can get others involved in fasting and praying for them they will have a chance..... also, try to keep them from being by them selves, for that is when they will cut, they are not intending to commmit suicide, only cut deep enough to draw blood, like the old physicians ( barbers) use to do, thinking that will relieve the problem.....

items used, scissors, disposable razors, pins, needls, knives, razor blades, tin/aluminum cans, popcan tabs, glass....anything that can cut, or scrap.....

after they cut, they tend to have a bit of peace for a while, but it is a false peace, false comfort......

they do need help...... but help from a quack is not what they need, for a quack will treat the symptom, and not the problem, which is treating them with drugs, this is only a bandaid fix for a severed arm..... they need spiritual help .... which the drugs can assist until they start growing spiritually, but until they have the Lord burried in their hearts, and have the strength to stand on their own, they tend to revert back when things start going weird on them.... some times when they are taken off the drugs......

if you look as the side effects of some of the drugs that are used, they can be more hazardous then the effects of cutting.... heart attack, suicide, stroke, liver failure, kidney failure...... so forth and so on.....

a few years ago, there was a statistic out, that said about 75% of the teenage suicides were of children that had been on or were currently on Riddlynn ( sp )...

that in its self should be an indicator about some of these so called miricle drugs....

I do not believe that we should rely on them as we do ( if we stop using them so much, maybe the price of a .01 (one cent pill) would no longer cost 10 dollars a pill...

mike

[OneAccord]

Very interesting! I came across that very same verse just a few days ago and had the same reaction. Wow! Cutting is mentioned in the Bible!! The only other reference to it is when Elijah and the priests were having a standoff at the altar and the priests were trying to call down fire from God and were cutting themselves. Also there's a place in Leviticus where it is forbidden, somewhere right along with the prohibition against tattooing. (Sorry, I'm feeling too lazy to look up the verses.)

In Mark, the verse at hand, this man had LEGIONS of demons in him. Can we conclude that folks who cut themselves have an unclean spirit or two?